BRITISH rock favourites The Quireboys are to headline the Rockstock & Barrel Festival at Burton Town Hall in October.

The new event on October 3-4 combines an impressive line-up of bands with Burton’s first-ever cider festival. There’ll also be festival-style food vendors and full bar facilities. The Quireboys, who celebrate 30 years in 2014, will play in their acoustic format on the Friday.

Frontman Spike said: “We are delighted to be asked to bring our own brand of rock ’n’ roll to this brand new event as part of our 30th anniversary celebrations.

“We always get a fantastic reception in this area and we look forward to raising a cider or two with everyone who helps keep rock ’n’ roll alive with The Quireboys.”

Rockstock & Barrel’s Deb Jacobs added: “We’ve said from the start that we wanted to bring quality music to Burton so we’re absolutely thrilled that The Quireboys have accepted our invitation to be the first-ever Rockstock & Barrel headliners.”

After hitting No 2 in the UK album chart with their debut release A Bit Of What You Fancy, The Quireboys have carved out a career which has put them firmly at the forefront of British rock.

Frontman Spike, guitarists Guy Griffin and Paul Guerin, and Keith Weir on keyboards are at the core of the band and recent years have seen The Quireboys rejuvenated. They received some of their best-ever reviews for their latest album Beautiful Curse and a string of high-profile festival shows in this area alone, including Download and Bearded Theory as a full band and in a stripped-down version at the Acoustic Festival of Britain.

Support on October 3 comes from Paul Miro, of Apes, Pigs & Spacemen. Saturday headliners are still to be announced but the rest of the bill includes Wille and the Bandits, Teenage Casket Company, The Roughneck Riot, A World Defined and Darktown Jubilee.

Limited early bird tickets are now on sale priced £12 for Friday night, £20 for all-day Saturday and £28 for a full weekend ticket.